Previous to my interviews with several peers regarding mental and physical health on campus, I was decently confident in our overall conditions as a student body, but just a few questions changed that view for the absolute worst. Students on a college campus are known as some of the busiest and most stressed in comparison to the rest of the population. Despite this, whether it be self inflicted or due to a lack of education, those whom I interviewed were uneducated on health around campus and not at all confident in college related health in general.   

When asked if they were confident in their abilities to maintain sufficient mental and physical health while on campus, almost all participants answered with a flat out “no”. Confused, I questioned this discontent and was swarmed with phrases like “I never even have time to sleep”, “I have so much to do, I feel like I sometimes forget to eat”, and “ school is just so stressful and it is hard to manage at times”. So with just one question I discovered the sleep deprived, hungry and overwhelmed group of people college students truly are. 

Following up, I asked if the participants knew where the student health resources were on campus. As expected, most did not know where the student health service building or where the counseling center were, but they reassured me that they could always use google maps to find their way if needed. To my surprise, however, some participants were shocked to find out there was a counseling center on campus at all. And to top it all off, they were similarly confused that Perkins had a second floor, let alone a second floor with resources for students. 

At this point, I was almost able to predict the answers for the last question, but for the sake of the assignment, I continued. When asked how college students’ health compares to the rest of society, participants said the overall health is usually worse in college mentally and physically. Reasons such as lack of sleep and free time were common answers along with “living in a petri dish for germs”, which I found comical while also being the best way to describe living in a dorm. 

Overall I was left with a slightly surprised and disappointed feeling. College is undoubtedly a stressful place, but more effort should be made to spread awareness of school-wide resources and strategies to maintain physical and mental health.